Open Lecture Series – Sowing the Future: Youth, Territories and Agroecology in the Andes
Organized by: CLACSO and McKnight
This open lecture series offers a space for reflection, exchange, and collective knowledge building on the challenges and opportunities facing youth, rural communities, and Andean territories within the context of contemporary socio-environmental transformations. Drawing on experiences in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador, it explores the contributions of critical agroecology to the sustainability of agri-food systems, the conservation of agrobiodiversity, the defense of territories, and the development of alternatives to the multiple crises affecting rural societies.
The various sessions explore the role of universities and educational processes in the formation of new generations committed to their territories; the methodological tools for supporting grassroots organizations; the validity and potential of ancestral agroecological practices of the Andean peoples; and the leading role of youth in community struggles for food sovereignty and socio-environmental justice.
The chair aims to foster dialogue between academic knowledge and Indigenous and peasant knowledge, highlighting concrete experiences of research, training, and collective action that strengthen the agroecological transition in the Andes. It also invites reflection on building sustainable futures from a territorial, intercultural, and participatory perspective, recognizing youth as key actors in the revitalization and defense of Andean agroecological systems.
This initiative is developed within the framework of the Community of Practice in Research and Training in Andean Agroecological Systems (CdP-IFSA Andes) of CLACSO with the support of the McKnight Foundation, a space for articulation between universities, research centers, social organizations, indigenous and peasant communities, aimed at strengthening networks for the exchange of knowledge and experiences that contribute to food sovereignty, socio-environmental justice and the strengthening of collective subjects that promote the agroecological transition in the Andean region.
This class analyzes the challenges facing higher education in the context of the accelerated loss of agrobiodiversity and increasing global competition. Drawing on the experience of the Peruvian Andes, it reflects on the limitations of current university models in responding to the needs of local territories and communities, as well as on the existing gaps in the valuation of Indigenous knowledge, critical scientific training, and environmental sustainability.
The course will also address the potential of new universities to drive social innovation and sociocultural re-engineering through the cross-cutting integration of an agroecological approach in teaching, research, and community engagement. The class will discuss strategies for strengthening local knowledge, promoting the training of Indigenous researchers, and contributing to sustainable development from a territorial and intercultural perspective.
Competitor:
Dani Vargas Huanca (Institute for Research on Indigenous Cultures, Peru)
Bibliography:
Huanca, DEV, Velásquez, Á. MV, Alejandra, M., & Gómez, F. (2024). Weaving sustainability: challenges and opportunities for agrobiodiversity in Peru. Conservación Colombiana, 29(2), 120–132. https://proaves.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Art8_CC29_2-1.pdf
Londoño Londoño, M., Paccha Huamani, P., Segura Terrones, L., Vargas Huanca, D., Velásquez Velásquez, Á., & Paccha Rufasto, C. (2025). Challenges in the transition from secondary to university education in the Peruvian Andes. Education and City, (49). https://doi.org/10.36737/01230425.3388
Vargas Huanca, DE and Huanca Quispe, J. (2021) Agrobiodiversity defense system against agricultural frosts in mountain ecosystems. In K. Bidaseca & P. Vommaro (Eds.), Agroecology in Andean systems (pp. 137-165). The McKnight Foundation and CLACSO. https://biblioteca-repositorio.clacso.edu.ar/bitstream/CLACSO/24612/1/Agroecologia-sistemas-andinos.pdf
Huanca, DEV, Quispe, LA, Huanca, WV, Quispe, JH, & Huanca, RV (2020). Crisis of rural education and the construction of new strategies for environmental sustainability in post-COVID-19 contexts. International Scientific Journal I+D+I 01, 1(1), 1–10. https://revciidi.org/ojs/index.php/ridi-01/article/view/5
Vargas-Huanca, D., Boada Junca, M., Araca Quispe, L., Vargas, W., & Vargas, R. (2016). Sustainability of ancestral modes of agricultural production in Peru: to conserve or to replace? Mundo agrario, 17(35), 1-9. http://www.scielo.org.ar/pdf/magr/v17n35/v17n35a13.pdf
Huanca, Dani E., Vargas, Boada, Marti, Araca, Lenny, Vargas, Wilber, & Vargas, Roger. (2015). Agrobiodiversity and the economy of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) in Aymara communities of the Titicaca Basin. Idesia (Arica), 33(4), 81-87. https://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-34292015000400011
Participatory Action Research (PAR) in Latin America embodies and describes the processes of popular emancipation. It is a tool that sustains and recovers the historical memory that has shaped our territories and has enriched our capacity to imagine and recreate new horizons, from the diverse identities that engage in intergenerational and intercultural dialogue within pedagogies/andragogies for liberation, in our worldview and commitment to life, in the face of dispossession and displacement.
In this lecture we will discuss how we have re-created and adapted the use of Participatory Action Research (PAR) for a training, articulation and research process with Community Kitchens in the neighborhoods of Las Moras, in Huánuco, Peru
Participants:
Josue Erquinigo Zorrilla (Alsakuy Agroecological – Peru)
Paul Roberto Hospinal Roman (Alsakuy Agroecological – Peru)
Nori Verina Diaz Espinoza (Alsakuy Agroecological – Peru)
Nicole Melissa Mejía Daza (Alsakuy Agroecological – Peru)
Mel Becerra Lavado (Alsakuy Agroecological – Peru)
Bibliography:
Becerra, M. et al. (2025). Memoirs of Dialogues at the Pot. Alsakuy Agroecológica. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13_FyvjmQAdJXcHJHhHut901R89tV3RVq/view?usp=drive_link
Becerra, M., Díaz, N. and Hospinal, P. (2025). Tools for Dialogue in the Pot. Alsakuy Agroecológica. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13_FyvjmQAdJXcHJHhHut901R89tV3RVq/view?usp=drive_link
Tse-Tung, Mao. (1968). Beijing. On Practice. Foreign Languages Press, Beijing. Available at: https://www.marxists.org/espanol/mao/escritos/OP37s.html
Mendez, Ernesto et al. (2018). Agroecology and Participatory Action Research (PAR): Principles and Lessons from Central America. Agroecology, 13(1), 81-98. Available at: https://revistas.um.es/agroecologia/article/view/385691
ROSSET, Peter Michael, VAL, Valentín, BARBOSA, Lia Pinheiro, and McCUNE, Nils (2021). Agroecology and La Vía Campesina II. Peasant schools of agroecology and the formation of a socio-historical and political subject. DESENVOLVIMENTO E MEIO AMBIENTE, 58, 531-550. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5380/DMA.V58I0.81357
Jara, Oscar. (2018). The systematization of experiences: practice and theory for other political worlds. Bogotá. International Center for Education and Human Development – CINDE. Available at: https://www.unc.edu.ar/sites/default/files/La%20sistematizaci%C3%B3n%20de%20experiencias%20-%20Oscar%20Jara%20%28edicion%20colombiana%29.pdf
In the Bolivian Andes, ancient agroecological systems like the aynuqa system still function today. This cultural, social, and economic practice organizes the territory sustainably. It is practiced in the Aroma province, Colquencha municipality, in the department of La Paz, Bolivia. This practice involves the participation of the entire community. The aynuqa system is a respected and supported form of institution. The cultural, social, economic, political, and territorial practices (local knowledge, uses, and customs) in many rural communities of Bolivia are poorly systematized and studied. This lack of information means that stakeholders and decision-makers (technicians, researchers, politicians) do not understand the configuration, characteristics, and organization of territorial structuring within the ayllu.
The class addresses, firstly, the configuration and dynamics of the geographic space (maps) of the aynuqa system (land management) practiced by the community of Micaya, in the municipality of Colquencha. Secondly, it analyzes the socioeconomic situation of the families in the community. And finally, it examines production management within the aynuqa system as a form of cultural, social, economic, and political organization practiced by these communities.
Participants:
Isaac Ivan Mamani Yujra (Pacha Saraya Yatiña, Bolivia)
Adela Quispe Perca (Pacha Saraya Yatiña, Bolivia)
Bibliography :
Mazurek, H. 2009. Space and territory: Methodological instruments of social research. Marseille: IRD Éditions. Available at: https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers20-06/010038553.pdf
Martínez, C. (2001). Space and territories: reason, passion, and imaginaries. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/3192567/Espacio_y_territorios_raz%C3%B3n_pasi%C3%B3n_e_imaginarios
The class begins by highlighting the potential of agroecology for transforming food systems and addressing the ecological crisis, emphasizing its connection to the struggles for food sovereignty led by Indigenous and peasant movements. By fostering greater peasant autonomy, agroecology contributes to the re-creation of peasant territories, the defense of an Indigenous community ethos, and the construction of an agroecological peasant political subject. Next, it provides an overview of the characteristics of agrarian capitalism in the Ecuadorian highlands, its impacts on peasant agriculture, and the proliferation of peasant agroecological initiatives as a form of resistance. The class then presents a case study of an emblematic struggle to build a peasant agroecological territory, led by Indigenous and peasant families from the ancestral community of San Isidro in the Cotopaxi Province of Ecuador. Finally, it addresses the role of young people in community struggles for agroecology and the challenges they face.
Participants
Fernando Larrea (Andean University Simón Bolívar, Ecuador)
Sammia Quisintuña (SWISSAID Ecuador Foundation)
Edwin Chancusig (Technical University of Cotopaxi, Ecuador)
Bibliography
Altieri, Miguel and Toledo, Víctor (2010). The agroecological revolution in Latin America: Rescuing nature, ensuring food sovereignty and empowering the peasant. Bogotá: ILSA. Available at: https://www.biblioteca.clacso.edu.ar/Colombia/ilsa/20130711054327/5.pdf
Rosset, Peter and Martínez Torres, María Elena (2016). Agroecology, territory, repeasantization and social movements. Estudios Sociales. Journal of scientific research, 25 (47), 275-299. Available at: https://www.ciad.mx/estudiosociales/index.php/es/article/view/318/204
Rosset, Peter, et al. (2021). Agroecology and La Vía Campesina II. Peasant schools of agroecology and the formation of a socio-historical and political subject. Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente, 58, Special Section – Territorialization of agroecology, 531-550. Available at: https://revistas.ufpr.br/made/article/view/81357/45186
